A new day is dawning for specialty coffee along the western shore of Lake Michigan, where East View Coffee is offering tastings and other educational opportunities in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Led by founder and head roaster Jenny Ulbricht, the new East View “tasting room” offers samples from among the company’s approximately two dozen single-origin and blended coffees, while staff are on hand to provide friendly recommendations and home brewing tips.
The downtown Kenosha shop also remains busy with traditional coffee service, providing quick, high-quality drip and espresso-based drinks within a colorful and comfortable environment.
“Starting our business with farmers markets illuminated how important and communal it is to taste and talk about coffee,” Christina Langley, East View Coffee wholesale accounts manager, told Daily Coffee News. “We decided to place the emphasis on the ‘tasting room’ aspect because, while we offer a lot, our roots and our focus is in the coffee itself. If we can refer to our space as something different — a tasting room — it helps people to think about coffee differently.”
Reinforcing the educational aspect is the fact that coffee is roasted on site. The shop also features photos of various production steps taken during coffee sourcing trips, as well as The Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel poster.
Said Langley, “More than offering just another cafe experience, our hope is to offer a glimpse into what we love about coffee — the journey it takes and the stories it tells.”
A 15-kilo Mill City Roasters machine and a Ground Control Cyclops brewer serve as additional conversation starters, while the latter handles both cold brew and batch espresso. A Fetco brewer pairs with a Mahlkönig EK43 for batches of hot drip coffee, while a traditional espresso machine is planned for the near future.
A high, white-painted brick wall backs East View’s colorful logo. Customers can watch the world go by from counter seating along large front windows. Meanwhile, wavy painted stripes lead guests further into the shop, which includes a dedicated kids play area.
Sunny, the cheery fox mascot created for the brand by designer Megan Jurvis, makes subtle appearances throughout the shop.
“He’s hidden around the tasting room for a playful element and he’ll be a part of other email and social pieces in the future,” Langley said.
East View buys its green coffees primarily through importers such as Royal Coffee, Artisan Coffee Imports, Cafe Imports and Theta Ridge, while also seeking opportunities for direct trade with producers, including recent Costa Rican coffees from Cafe Con Amor and Guatemalan coffees from Dos Niñas.
“We source our coffee almost exclusively from women producers, which is one of our main goals, to highlight gender inequity,” said Langley. “Our goal is to work with farmers and importers we can trust and with whom we can build lasting relationships.”
A member of the nonprofit 1% for the Planet, East View invests in carbon offset credits for all of its shipping. Locally, the company operates a program called Powering the Good, through which it has donated more 1,000 pounds of coffee to community organizations such as HALO Inc., Habitat for Humanity and Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha.
“Next up is chocolate.” Langley said of the company’s many ambitions. “We’re venturing into the wild world of bean-to-bar chocolate, which we’ll be roasting, grinding, tempering and molding here. Another reason we’ve chosen the Tasting Room emphasis is the near-future reality of tasting chocolate from different origins and coffee-and-chocolate pairings.”
